Emanuel replaces ethics board

Mayor names 7 new members, expects 'new energy'

Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he expects a new commitment from the new ethics board members he named Wednesday. (Alex Garcia, Chicago Tribune)

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday replaced the entire board that enforces City Hall ethics and campaign finance rules as he prepares to revamp the board's role so it's focused on its judicial duties.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday replaced the entire board that enforces City Hall ethics and campaign finance rules, but whether the panel gets enough power and exerts sufficient gumption to reverse its decadeslong image as ineffective remains to be seen.

Emanuel named seven new members to the Board of Ethics, saying he expects "a new energy, a new commitment, by a totally new board," even as he conceded that skepticism is in order. "We'll all hold a critical eye to make sure they hold up," the mayor said.

During its quarter-century existence, the ethics board hasn't found a single case of wrongdoing by aldermen, though more than 20 were convicted of felonies in that period. The ethics board also has been criticized for failing to mete out punishment in cases involving employees.

Emanuel's wholesale remake of the board was in keeping with recommendations made in late August by an ethics task force the mayor appointed.

The task force recommended that the city ethics board drop investigations and act primarily as a judicial body with the power to determine whether violations occur and recommend punishments. Those could include a fine, recommending censure of elected officials or suggesting discipline of city employees.

Emanuel, however, declined to talk specifics on that topic Wednesday, saying only that making the board a judicial body is the "general spirit and direction" of his effort to redraw the board's duties in an ordinance to be unveiled next month.

The mayor's picks for the ethics panel include two former judges, one of whom was appointed by the federal courts to monitor Cook County patronage hiring.

Stephen Beard, the mayor's choice for chairman, is a vice president at the Heidrick & Struggles executive search firm, where he has served as chief compliance officer. The mayor also appointed a retired city budget officer, the director of a microlending institute, a county Head Start official and a pastor.

Under the task force recommendations, the city inspector general and the legislative inspector general would serve as investigators, Law Department attorneys as prosecutors and the ethics board as the judge. Both inspectors general now have authority to make determinations and recommend sanctions.

But that approach could be fraught with tension. The city's Law Department and Inspector General Joseph Ferguson are fighting each other before the Illinois Supreme Court over the extent of Ferguson's power to subpoena city documents, and the two offices have often differed on whether a city employee should be punished for alleged ethics infractions.

Ferguson has been critical of the Board of Ethics. In a recent report, Ferguson noted that the ethics board found too little proof to punish three firms, despite ample evidence that they gave more than $3,500 in gifts to a city worker. The evidence included thank-you emails, expense reports and personal admissions of gift-giving.

The mayor also could find some resistance from the City Council, which in recent years chose to name its own inspector general rather than let Ferguson investigate aldermen and their staff. The task force recommended that the legislative inspector general be able to initiate investigations, something most aldermen oppose.